Just weeks before we left for Hong Kong last year, we learned that Andrew's company had begun a new policy of giving 2 weeks paid paternity leave for adoptions. First we were floored! Then we started planning :). We decided to add one of our regular vacation weeks onto the 2 weeks and have an epic trip to the Northwest. I spent a ton of time planning and researching and booking and finally early in the morning on July 26th, we groggily hauled ourselves into the big van and started driving. First destination stop - Glacier National Park!!! DISCLAIMER - *****I apologize for the travel-logue-y-ness of these posts, but my goal is to remember what we did each day and help those who may be planning a similar trip (I’ve had a number of requests for our itinerary). So, I most likely won’t be sharing Lucas stories and they’ll be pretty low on emotion….but they will be full of beautiful scenery pictures. You have now been warned. *****
GLACIER Day 1 -
Glacier is in the far northwest corner of Montana. It is home to the Northern Rockies Mountain Range and literally hundreds of miles of hiking trails. It is chock full of God's beauty at its best. Nearly every day we drove the Going to the Sun Road, but it’s impossible to complain about a commute when you see this all along your drive!
I just kept ooohing, aaahing and wowing and telling kids – “Seriously, you have got to be looking out the windows because this is just gorgeous!!” I’m not sure they were into it as much as I was, but I heard some pretty excited voices coming from the back with every new turn in the road (ps. – stock up on Dramamine).
From the very beginning, we planned to do a lot of hiking on this trip. We wanted to ease our kids in a bit, so we started with 2 smallish hikes our first day in the Park. We drove up to Logan’s Pass and barely got a parking space. True, this park is the least visited of all the National Parks, but it also has the smallest parking lots. We quickly learned if we wanted a good parking spot, we needed to be at our destination by 8:30 or so.
Below is Hidden Lake. Isn’t it just gorgeous!!! We couldn’t hike down to the lake because of bear activity (they hung a rope to block the trail), which was a bummer, but we thoroughly enjoyed soaking all this in while we ate our lunch.
After lunch we hiked back down the trail to Logan’s Pass and grabbed a shuttle to the St Mary Falls Trail Head. The St Mary & Virginia Falls trails are also about 3 miles round trip and have very little elevation change so it is also a busier trail, but again, it is beautiful!!! First we hiked through a bunch of trees with this majestic mountain towering over us. Before too long we heard, and then saw, St Mary Falls.
One of the nice things about sharing the trail with a few other people is that they are willing to take pictures of your family for you :). Yet, there are few enough people that it is easy to get a picture without anyone else in it.
Virginia Falls -
Perspective – the top section of the falls is 50+ feet. It is really beautiful! We ate a prolonged snack and just enjoyed watching this waterfall for a good 1/2 hr.
We ended the day back at the house we had rented and wolfed down the crockpot meal that was ready for us.
GLACIER Day 1 -
Glacier is in the far northwest corner of Montana. It is home to the Northern Rockies Mountain Range and literally hundreds of miles of hiking trails. It is chock full of God's beauty at its best. Nearly every day we drove the Going to the Sun Road, but it’s impossible to complain about a commute when you see this all along your drive!
I just kept ooohing, aaahing and wowing and telling kids – “Seriously, you have got to be looking out the windows because this is just gorgeous!!” I’m not sure they were into it as much as I was, but I heard some pretty excited voices coming from the back with every new turn in the road (ps. – stock up on Dramamine).
From the very beginning, we planned to do a lot of hiking on this trip. We wanted to ease our kids in a bit, so we started with 2 smallish hikes our first day in the Park. We drove up to Logan’s Pass and barely got a parking space. True, this park is the least visited of all the National Parks, but it also has the smallest parking lots. We quickly learned if we wanted a good parking spot, we needed to be at our destination by 8:30 or so.
First hike - Hidden Lake Trail. This has to be one of the busiest trails in the park because there is little elevation change, it is right behind the Logans Pass Visitor Center and it’s pretty short (just under 3 miles round trip). A view of the trail, and yes, we hiked through some of that snow. This large Mountain Goat also thought the boardwalk portion of the trail was the easiest way to travel, so we just kept a respectful distance and enjoyed watching him :).
A little stop off as we hiked & watched a mom and kid -
Below is Hidden Lake. Isn’t it just gorgeous!!! We couldn’t hike down to the lake because of bear activity (they hung a rope to block the trail), which was a bummer, but we thoroughly enjoyed soaking all this in while we ate our lunch.
After lunch we hiked back down the trail to Logan’s Pass and grabbed a shuttle to the St Mary Falls Trail Head. The St Mary & Virginia Falls trails are also about 3 miles round trip and have very little elevation change so it is also a busier trail, but again, it is beautiful!!! First we hiked through a bunch of trees with this majestic mountain towering over us. Before too long we heard, and then saw, St Mary Falls.
One of the nice things about sharing the trail with a few other people is that they are willing to take pictures of your family for you :). Yet, there are few enough people that it is easy to get a picture without anyone else in it.
Virginia Falls -
Perspective – the top section of the falls is 50+ feet. It is really beautiful! We ate a prolonged snack and just enjoyed watching this waterfall for a good 1/2 hr.
We ended the day back at the house we had rented and wolfed down the crockpot meal that was ready for us.
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